Ms

by Michael Magee

Stuttering turns into syncopation in this edgily engaging collocation of accents, attitudes, occasions. The poems in MS are provocative, certainly without idealization, the dollars-and-cents context of our grainy American dream. Mike MageeÕs detailed optical-ocular orbiting effects—Òother-wise / waning or adroitly loiteringÓ—make reading this collection a constant surprise.—Susan Howe

92 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2003

Reviews

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a deeply American rat-a-tat to these poems that owes a lot to hip-hop's verbal glee ("This is a fact check/from the girl at the hat check with a hatchet"). But Magee deploys whole families of vernaculars, pop and vinyl-obscure, with enough force to kick poetry awake in its pew: "the belles of St. Mary knell/'The Real Slim Shady.'"